Kirill Marchenko was acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Matthew Knies, among other assets in the deal. What can Marchenko bring to Toronto that Knies didn't?
The hockey world was hit with a massive trade on Monday, as the Toronto Maple Leafs traded Matthew Knies, Emil Andrae, Steven Lorentz and a 2027 conditional second-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Kirill Marchenko, Miles Wood and Elvis Merzlikins (18 percent of his salary retained).
The main gist of this trade for Toronto was acquiring Marchenko and giving up Knies in the process. The Leafs lost a 23-year-old power forward who has the potential to grow and become a great player in the NHL.
Last year, Knies put up 23 goals and 66 points in 79 appearances for Toronto. But with this acquisition, here's what the Maple Leafs get in Marchenko.
Marchenko is an NHL star, first off. He registered similar numbers to Knies last year, putting up 27 goals and 67 points. The year before that, the Russian right winger notched a career-high 31 goals and 74 points in 79 games.
This is a player who can score, impose his will on a game, be a difference-maker for his team with the puck, and drive a line to some degree.
Knies could also be a difference-maker in certain situations, but if he played on the third line rather than with superstars like Auston Matthews, he wouldn't stand out nearly as much. He's a good NHL player, but more of a complementary one. Marchenko is more than that.
Another massive difference between the two players is that Marchenko is a much better skater than Knies. In fact, Marchenko is actually one of the better skaters in the wide landscape of the NHL.
According to NHL Edge, in the 2025-26 season, the 26-year-old is in the 93rd percentile in skating speed, reaching a max skating speed of 37.60 kilometers per hour. He had 28 speed bursts at 35-plus kph (98th percentile). Marchenko is also a top-10 skater among NHL forwards in terms of speed bursts between 32 and 35 kph (273) and bursts between 29 and 32 kph (821).
Simply put, Marchenko is one of the quickest forwards in the league and utilizes his speed fairly regularly, rather than clocking a high speed sporadically throughout the year.
He also covers a lot of distance on the ice and doesn't just pick his spots when he wants to be effective.
Marchenko finished last season in the 97th percentile for most kilometers travelled in a game at 6.79 km. Also, the average NHLer skated 198.82 km last year, whereas Marchenko reached 395.50 km with the Blue Jackets.
He'll fit in nicely with Toronto head coach Jim Hiller's playing style, where he can't stress enough the importance of his team being able to skate on both sides of the ice and fast. Marchenko was one of the best forwards in the NHL to do so last year.
As for Knies in that department, the narrative surrounding him throughout training camp and pre-season was that he appeared to be slow. And last season's numbers show Knies to be a fairly average skater for the role he carried on the Leafs.
One factor that might play a role in that is that Marchenko is much lighter than Knies. They both measure 6-foot-3, but Marchenko weighs about 200 pounds in comparison to Knies' 227 pounds.
However, even though Marchenko is significantly lighter than Knies, it doesn't mean he's not a physical or strong player. Toronto's newest addition is very capable of staying on his feet in the corners.
He doesn't throw as many hits as Knies (61 to 152), but that's a trade-off for the skill that Marchenko brings to the ice.
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